Steve Bousquet, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Steve Bousquet is the Tampa Bay Times' Tallahassee bureau chief. He joined the Times in 2001 after 17 years at the Miami Herald, where he held a variety of positions including Tallahassee bureau chief, and he previously was a reporter at TV stations in Miami and Providence, R.I. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Rhode Island and a master's in history from Florida State University.

Bousquet was a contributor to two editions of The Almanac of Florida Politics and to The Miami Herald Report: Democracy Held Hostage, an account of the 2000 presidential recount in Florida.

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott's tourism chiefs at Visit Florida spend a lot of public money taking trips to exotic places to promote Florida as a top worldwide destination.

Four former top-level staff members at the state's tourism promotion and its current top executive spent a combined $150,000 on travel in the past 14 months, at a time when Visit Florida was under scrutiny by the Legislature for questionable spending, including a hidden $1 million deal with the rapper Pitbull, whose suggestive video for the song Sexy Beaches helped cost Visit Florida's former chief executive his job....

As women across the country come forward and publicly call out sexual harassers, accusers in the Sunshine State have remained in the shade.

At least six women have alleged that they are victims of sexual harassment by state Sen. Jack Latvala, the Clearwater Republican who stepped down as head of the budget committee until a Senate investigation is complete. The women agreed to talk to Politico Florida but refused to be identified....

Gov. Rick Scott addressed the Jack Latvala controversy for the first time Monday, telling reporters in Fort Myers that what he has seen in news reports is "disgusting."

In Fort Myers for a tax-cut event, Scott, without prompting from reporters, said: "That's disgusting," but he did not mention Latvala by name.

Referring to his wife Ann and his two daughters, the governor said: "I would be horrified if they were treated (like that). It's disgusting if anybody does that. There's an independent investigation and we need to follow that and find out the real facts of what actually happened."...

TALLAHASSEE — For decades, sex has been a tool and a toy for the politically powerful in the male-dominated world of politics in Florida's capital. Now it's a weapon.

Allegations of sexual assault, harassment and infidelity among the state's legislators flew like shrapnel from a bomb blast in recent weeks, destroying much of the trust left in a Republican-controlled Legislature and replacing it with suspicion and finger pointing....

For decades, sex has been a tool and a toy for the politically powerful in the male-dominated world of politics in Florida's capital. Now it's a weapon.

Allegations of sexual assault, harassment and infidelity among the state's legislators flew like shrapnel from a bomb blast in recent weeks, destroying much of the trust left in a Republican-controlled Legislature and replacing it with suspicion and finger pointing....

Florida Senate President Joe Negron ordered an internal investigation Friday of sexual harassment allegations made by six unnamed women who accused Sen. Jack Latvala of groping and inappropriate touching.

"There has been a news report alleging that members of the Senate professional staff and visitors to the Senate offices were sexually assaulted,'' Negron said in a statement. "These allegations are atrocious and horrendous. As Senate President, my first priority is the safety of our staff and visitors. I have ordered an immediate investigation of these allegations, which will be led by our Senate general counsel, Dawn Roberts."...

The inspector general in the Division of Emergency Management cited "preventable delays" in paying cities, counties, school districts, hospitals and even state agencies for the cost of recovery from past floods, tornadoes and hurricanes....

The inspector general in the Division of Emergency Management cited "preventable delays" in paying cities, counties, school districts, hospitals and even state agencies for the cost of recovery from past floods, tornadoes and hurricanes....

TALLAHASSEE — The 2018 race for governor will be about power -- not just political power, but electric power, and the vast political contributions donated by Florida utility companies.

The front-runner for the Republican nomination for governor, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, has raised nearly $17 million so far, thanks in part to generous support from the state's biggest utilities, including Florida Power & Light and Duke Energy....

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott on Monday declared a state of emergency in Alachua County, three days ahead of a scheduled speech at the University of Florida campus by the white nationalist Richard Spencer.

Scott has issued such declarations ahead of hurricanes and after tragedies, but this is thought to be the first time he has taken such an action ahead of a planned event.

Spencer's advocacy of a "white ethno-state" has mobilized his alt-right supporters and his many detractors who call him a racist. At past speeches, those camps have sparred, sometimes devolving into street brawls and arrests — most notably in Charlottesville, Va....

Yet as the costs of Irma's Category 4 fury are still being calculated, North Florida cities and counties hammered by Hurricane Matthew a year ago are still waiting to be paid for the cost of debris removal, road repair and police overtime....

TALLAHASSEE — Even as Florida attracts hundreds of new residents every day, the state's pool of active voters is actually shrinking.

This paradox is easily explained. All 67 counties must periodically scrub the voter roll to make it more accurate and to be sure voters live where they say. Counties can't do that close to an election, so they do it in non-election years.

Turns out, that's good news for Republicans and bad news for Democrats....

STARKE — Two days before his scheduled execution, Michael Lambrix decided he won't go quietly — not after 34 years on death row.

For an hour at Florida State Prison on Tuesday, the convicted murderer talked of life and death, his last meal and his upcoming funeral, and criticized a court system that he has long claimed ignored evidence that might spare his life in the deaths of Clarence Moore and Aleisha Bryant in 1983....

WASHINGTON — A day after he saw Hurricane Maria's terrible toll on Puerto Rico, Gov. Rick Scott told President Trump about it over lunch at the White House Friday as frustration mounted over the official response.

Scott's six-hour tour Thursday was dismissed as a photo opportunity by state Sen. Victor Torres, a Democrat whose Orlando-area district will soon welcome tens of thousands of hurricane evacuees....